News
Finland's first giant virus discovered
Giant viruses. What are they, what do they do, and do they have any antibacterial properties?
Dive into UiT and CANS-researcher Gabriel Almeida's story about how they found Finland's very first giant virus in a compost heap at a university.
Published: 23.06.2025
Link to this page
Probiotics reduce AMR carriage, new study shows
In a 2000 strong cohort among newborn babies in Tanzania, the abundance of antibacterial resistant E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae decreased by 7 percent when given probiotics.
The study did not find any significant reduction of hospitalization and deaths among the infants, but the reduction in AMR carriage could mean less AMR on a societal scale.
Access the study in The Lancet Global Health here.
The study was funded by the Western and Northern Norway Regional Health Authorities (Helse Bergen and Helse Nord), The Trond Mohn Foundation, and Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR).
Corresponding author:
Nina Langeland, CAMRIA (Combatting Anti-Microbial Resistance with Interdisciplinary Approaches)
Published: 02.06.2025
Link to this page
Starting Up New National Microlobiology Education
To face the rising the problem of antibiotic resistance, UiT and other Norwegian universities are joining forces to educate the next generation of microbial experts.
The new researcher school will be called MiMa: Microbiology Matters - novel approaches to tackle future health challenges. With fresh funding from the Norwegian Research Council, the school will educate infection biology scientist with a One Health perspective, including contagion between animals and humans - zoonotic diseases.
The education will strengthen researchers' competence on preventing pandemics and the development of new medicines and vaccines.
- We are all part of the same ecosystem. The COVID-19 pandemic was an example of how fast contagion can spread from animals to humans, and how this contagion can spread globally. By having knowledge about surveillance of other sources of contagion like domestic animals and wild game, we can prevent potential outbreaks or spread to humans, says associate professor Pauline Cavanagh from UiT.
Cavanagh will head the school together with professor Morten Kjos from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).
MiMa: Microbiology Matters is a cooperative effort between UiT, The University of Oslo, The University of Bergen, NTNU in Trondheim, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, OsloMet, and the University of Inland Norway. MiMa will also cooperate with industry and other Norwegian research institutions.
Contact person at UiT
Associate professor Jorunn Pauline Cavanagh
Published: 14.05.2025
Link to this page
